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Post by Mel on Sept 2, 2020 16:48:48 GMT -5
...what would you include?
Husband and I are planning a new garage/shop in the future, with the idea that he will get our current double garage for himself and his clutter stuff, and I will get the new building. Now, I'm mostly a tumbler and a gawker of all things rock, but I want to get into higher end stuff down the line (cabbing/lapping/slab cutting etc). I also do a bunch of other hobbies (soapmaking, pottery, general chaos & upheaval) which tend to be messy as well. Space is planned to be ~960sqft but will have to see what the final cost is first.
I haven't had a dedicated space ever, so I'm trying to cover my butt and not missing anything that could be important as I level up, especially considering more equipment down the line. I understand most lap equipment is 220V (please feel free to tell me if I'm wrong!), so upgrading the electrical is pretty much a given but how much space/work area around each piece should I plan for? I think I have the basics covered; good shelving, solid work surfaces, utility sink & excellent lighting....
What am I missing? What do you have in your workspace that is under-used, or you find yourself short of?
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Post by Pat on Sept 2, 2020 17:02:18 GMT -5
Ceiling fan; a way to keep hot drinks hot; comfortable chair; window or two; ceiling vent; open shelving. Sounds like fun!!
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Post by stardiamond on Sept 2, 2020 17:07:35 GMT -5
All my lapidary equipment is 110v; 16 inch slab saw, Genie and 8 inch stardiamond machine. I have a woodshop work bench with the Genie and the slab saw on it along with all my cabbing supplies. My 8 inch machine is free standing and backs up to the other side of the bench. It is outside under the roof and closed in on two sides with the exterior walls of the house. Out of the sun and rain with obviously good ventilation. The only thing I'm missing is free standing shelves to hold the boxes of lapidary material. It was in cigar boxes in carboard boxes which is good for sorting. I moved most of it from the cabbing area because black widow spiders took up residence in the boxes.
The area is about 200 square feet and is shared with gardening equipment.
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Post by pauls on Sept 2, 2020 17:12:49 GMT -5
Good quality floor coverings, You are into very messy things make it easy on yourself to clean up.
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Post by stardiamond on Sept 2, 2020 17:46:18 GMT -5
My floor is dirt and I occasionally rake it.
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Post by Peruano on Sept 2, 2020 18:05:34 GMT -5
I recently moved and built a new stucco covered shop (12' x 14') on a vacant part of the lot. While not inclusive the following were deemed important:
1. Outside outlet for running things like flat vibratory laps outside the building.
2. A thermostatically controlled exhaust fan capable of moving a lot of air to the outside of the building.
3. Water and a drain. I didn't do this but I consider carrying water for the lapidary work a form of exercise and most of the runoff goes to adjacent plants (another positive of no drain). If I wasn't an idealist and a water miser, I'd have water and sewer.
4. Clerestory windows (they are open all the time but high enough to prevent entry, and with an appropriate overhang to allow them to stay open in rains.
5. Insulation (it works against heat and cold).
6 Adequate outlets so you can spread your machines and not worry about cords.
7. I have an outside deep sink with a 5 gallon bucket underneath rather than a drain. Again the water goes to the plants, and the sediment becomes soil nutrients rather than a drain stopper-upper.
8. A good concrete floor is not undesirable. Oildri soaks up minor oil spills and the hard surface is good for moving equipment around.
9. I have pegboard all around allowing maximum flexibility of shelves and cabinets underneath.
I'm sure there are many other attributes you will want but these are those that seemed important to me.
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Post by rmf on Sept 2, 2020 19:01:21 GMT -5
I really like Peruano 's list but the one think I did 40 years ago is put in a lot of lights pointing to the wheels where I cut. As the lights die I am replacing with LED that give more lumins for less watts. For some reason 40 years ago I did not need glasses now I need more light and have to use glasses and optivisor. I really miss my younger eyes. I have a 24" saw and it is 110V. But I like your thinking if I had to do it all over again I would go with 22V and a 36" saw:) You can never have too big of a saw. |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller 
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,612 
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Post by RWA3006 on Sept 2, 2020 19:33:05 GMT -5
I've built a lot of shops and have learned a few things I'll list:
1. You never have enough space. Build as large as you can within reasonable budget and limits.
2. When I finish my concrete flatwork for a shop I always put a polish on the concrete surface instead of regular finish. This goes against a lot of common practice, but when it comes time to sweep up debris or hose it off you'll be thankful at how much easier it is to clean up the mess. I thoroughly seal it to make cleanup easier.
3. Speaking of concrete, I like my concrete foundation to go a foot above the flatwork for the framing plate to rest on. This keeps my wood framing up high enough that I can hose out the area without the water soaking the walls.
4. I like wide doors. Wide enough to pass big equipment through without a struggle. I also like wide shop doors that have minimal or no threshold so big heavy things on castors can be rolled in and out easilier. My idea of a proper sized man door is three feet wide and I usually place optional doors four to eight feet wide. I also like to pour a good sized concrete apron in front of the doors.
5. I like heavy duty wiring. I always place 20 amp rated switches and outlets on circuits and use 12 gauge romex instead of less robust 15 amp and 14 gauge. I pay attention to where equipment will be stationed so the circuits will have loads placed more evenly on them. I also like plenty of good lighting. With todays affordable LED light fixtures there's no reason to skimp on this. 220 volt service is great if possible.
6. An air compressor station is mandatory even if you only have a little one to put there.
7. Ventilation that can provide a wicked cross flow of air is awesome too.
8. Running water is great if possible.
9. Insulate the walls and ceiling.
10. Make it comfortable and fun so you'll be drawn to the shop more than the TV and Lazyboy.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,047
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Post by gemfeller on Sept 2, 2020 20:13:51 GMT -5
I think your space will depend a lot on what you want to do. Just cabbing? Faceting? Casting? Silver fabrication? Flat-lapping of specimens? What kinds of saws? How much storage will you need for rough, slabs and finished gems?
I agree with the foregoing that good lighting, ventilation, access to water, and adequate electrical outlets with heavy duty wiring are pretty much essential. One always tends to want to do more things as skills grow. I started with tumbling many years ago and now I'm doing all the things noted above except flat lapping of specimens. One of my best investments was running strip electrical outlets all around my work area with beefed-up fuses and wiring. I have outlets about every 9 inches or so and I tend to use nearly all of them.
In my ideal shop (not my current one) I'd have a ventilation hood to whisk away fumes from casting burn-out, acids and other bad stuff. I'd have secure windows instead of the dark dungeon I now work in. I'd have virtually endless space to store and organize all my slabs -- that's the biggest issue I face now. I waste hours trying to locate slabs I *know* I have but can't find.
In my ultra-ideal shop I'd have a dedicated area for photography with appropriate lighting and a north-facing window if possible.
Good luck with your project!
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Post by taylor on Sept 2, 2020 20:31:12 GMT -5
Lots of great information from every one above.
My thoughts:
climate control -- heating and cooling (allows you to be productive year round)
electricity -- plenty of amps, plenty of different circuits, and plenty of outlets
water -- heavy buckets are for youngsters
ventilation -- oil mist from saws will happen (don't recommend breathing it)
concrete floor -- easy to clean and allows for equipment on wheels to be moved
windows -- its tough to beat sunlight
Once you have a well planned structure then you can add or modify as you grow with things like lighting, shelving, tables, easy chair, and refrigerator.
Have fun!
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Post by Mel on Sept 2, 2020 21:52:27 GMT -5
4. I like wide doors. Wide enough to pass big equipment through without a struggle. I also like wide shop doors that have minimal or no threshold so big heavy things on castors can be rolled in and out easilier. My idea of a proper sized man door is three feet wide and I usually place optional doors four to eight feet wide. I also like to pour a good sized concrete apron in front of the doors. YES! Concrete pad out front for sure; I'm planning to have it butt up against our current concrete patio (due to space and to save what concrete I can). I also want to run a sediment tank out the back side of it. Much less mess than my current setup. Also yes to big doors; plan is for one standard garage door, and a wide main door (36" or so seems good to me); excellent point about casters! I really like the point Peruano made about the windows too. That's something I hadn't considered. Unfortunately I'm in central Canada so 6 months of the year it's probably going to be too cool for an open window 24/7 but I'm going to keep those in mind and ask the builder. Also lots of outlets; our current house has at least 4 outlets on every wall, so I'm kind of spoiled  Right now we have a small shop out back but it's 16x20 and too full of (insert nice name for crap) to be of any use as a rock shop/hobby area for me. Hope is that the new place will have some storage in the rafters to put the stuff that gets to stay after we tear down the old one. Waiting on the RM to find out about water/sewer; they say they can't allow me to use existing sewer line for a drain (fear about oil going into the drains) but that's as far as I've gotten. I would definitely appreciate being able to have a bathroom in there; that's one reason the current building became a rats nest. It's too much of a hassle to go in and out between shop/house when it's -20. I've got rocks to polish/admire/sort/hoard, dammit! |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,612
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Post by RWA3006 on Sept 3, 2020 21:59:06 GMT -5
It's too much of a hassle to go in and out between shop/house when it's -20. I've got rocks to polish/admire/sort/hoard, dammit! [/quote]
I had a nice shop in a particularly cold part of Wyoming and spent a lot of time at work benches. I had a massive home made wood stove to heat it with and had no problem warming the place up, but in spite of this my knees would still get cold as I sat at the work benches. I ended up placing recirculating fans in the area but still wasn't satisfied. I finally put in propane base board heaters under the benches to make it bearable.
Something to think about for your cold region.
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rocksology
off to a rocking start
I am so confused how to work this site!
Member since February 2020
Posts: 4
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Post by rocksology on Feb 1, 2022 0:43:40 GMT -5
This topic is very timely! Well, not really as it was written in 2020, but it showed up perfectly! I have a 10 x 15 "she shed" next to my house. I am converting it to my saw shop. I just bought a 16" Highland Park slab saw. Designing the shop has me with this exact question: "If you were to build a dream lapidary area/shop...". I have been thinking hard about this.f
1. GOOD lighting - I bought a 17,000 lumen - VERY bright.
2. GOOD EXHAUST - I don't know what type of exhaust for silica and oil mist.
3. Place for tumbler
4. Place for CabKing
5. Shelving
6. Work bench for wire wrapping
I am going to lay laminate flooring and put rubber mats down. For the walls, I want to use Melamine - it's like whiteboard. It will wipe clean easily and gives me the added benefit to use it as a whiteboard so I always know what's in the saw, and I can do the math for figuring my cost of each slab.
What I need help with is identifying what type of exhaust fan I need. The shed has two windows, one set of double doors and one oversized man door. I am going to vent through the back wall where there is an existing hole for a chimney. (Shed was customized for a small coffee roastery.) If anyone can give any suggestions on ventilation, I'd appreciate it!
Terri
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,612
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Post by RWA3006 on Feb 21, 2022 22:33:27 GMT -5
This topic is very timely! Well, not really as it was written in 2020, but it showed up perfectly! I have a 10 x 15 "she shed" next to my house. I am converting it to my saw shop. I just bought a 16" Highland Park slab saw. Designing the shop has me with this exact question: "If you were to build a dream lapidary area/shop...". I have been thinking hard about this.f 1. GOOD lighting - I bought a 17,000 lumen - VERY bright. 2. GOOD EXHAUST - I don't know what type of exhaust for silica and oil mist. 3. Place for tumbler 4. Place for CabKing 5. Shelving 6. Work bench for wire wrapping I am going to lay laminate flooring and put rubber mats down. For the walls, I want to use Melamine - it's like whiteboard. It will wipe clean easily and gives me the added benefit to use it as a whiteboard so I always know what's in the saw, and I can do the math for figuring my cost of each slab. What I need help with is identifying what type of exhaust fan I need. The shed has two windows, one set of double doors and one oversized man door. I am going to vent through the back wall where there is an existing hole for a chimney. (Shed was customized for a small coffee roastery.) If anyone can give any suggestions on ventilation, I'd appreciate it! Terri I've gotten to the point that I dislike saw oil mist so much that I'm moving my saws to the outside of the shop onto a concrete pad with a shed roof sloping away from the shop to shelter them. Problem solved. |
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,459
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Post by realrockhound on Feb 22, 2022 1:10:08 GMT -5
This topic is very timely! Well, not really as it was written in 2020, but it showed up perfectly! I have a 10 x 15 "she shed" next to my house. I am converting it to my saw shop. I just bought a 16" Highland Park slab saw. Designing the shop has me with this exact question: "If you were to build a dream lapidary area/shop...". I have been thinking hard about this.f 1. GOOD lighting - I bought a 17,000 lumen - VERY bright. 2. GOOD EXHAUST - I don't know what type of exhaust for silica and oil mist. 3. Place for tumbler 4. Place for CabKing 5. Shelving 6. Work bench for wire wrapping I am going to lay laminate flooring and put rubber mats down. For the walls, I want to use Melamine - it's like whiteboard. It will wipe clean easily and gives me the added benefit to use it as a whiteboard so I always know what's in the saw, and I can do the math for figuring my cost of each slab. What I need help with is identifying what type of exhaust fan I need. The shed has two windows, one set of double doors and one oversized man door. I am going to vent through the back wall where there is an existing hole for a chimney. (Shed was customized for a small coffee roastery.) If anyone can give any suggestions on ventilation, I'd appreciate it! Terri I've gotten to the point that I dislike saw oil mist so much that I'm moving my saws to the outside of the shop onto a concrete pad with a shed roof sloping away from the shop to shelter them. Problem solved. that’s my current setup. All the lapidary stuff is done inside a little pull trailer. Stone is scattered anywhere it will fit. But yeah… the saws underneath the sloped roof works just great for me. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Feb 22, 2022 13:04:29 GMT -5
Our saw shop and cabbing area are in separate buildings right now. Cabbing area is in insulated 8x30' room that used to be storage on our guest casita. Storage is now a 25' dry van box with no wheels.
Stand alone shop is 12x40' slab with a 8'room in back, 20' enclosed, and a 12' covered porch like area, which in not enough for everything we want to do with it. I will soon be adding the current 12x12 "porch" of the saw shop to the enclosed area, and pouring a roughly 10(12?)' by 25' slab that will be roofed, with some wall panels plus several roll down shade doors for shade when I weld. Most or all saws may end up out there.
I doubt this helps much, I may eventually do some kind of a photo/vlog progress thread.
Philosophically, keeping oil away from water or fire or lungs could be an important consideration.
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